Planning for Your Business in Case of Emergency--Part Two, Family Emergencies

by Kori Rodley Irons | More from this Blogger

16 Jun 2007 12:28 PM

Having written about how planning and preparedness can benefit the home business owner, I wanted to talk about other, more common, types of emergencies--illness, injury, family changes and other family emergencies. When you work from home and someone is sick or injured, or there is a death or terminal illness, these realities can have a direct impact on a home business.

One of the great things about working from home and being your own boss, is the flexibility to care for family and friends (not to mention yourself) when the need arises. If someone gets sick or injured, or if you develop an illness, it may be easier to continue working on some level and caring for a recovery. However, it can also be really tough to juggle everything and the business may suffer. This means that income/revenue will be affected. As with a natural disaster, it is important to have a contingency plan for what you will do if you cannot work or cannot be as focused on your business due to an emergency. Do you have the sort of business where you can just put everything on hold? Or can you work irregular hours for a while? Will you need to get someone in to help and cover the basis for a little while? Thinking these questions through in advance will give you a sense that you are prepared if an emergency should present itself.

Having an emergency fund, or a savings account is also important. Of course, this can be tough for someone who has just dumped everything into starting a new business. You can also make sure that your income or revenue is coming from a variety of sources (some home business owners continue to work a more traditional job at least part time for a while, or a spouse's or partner's income can provide some additional security) so that even if you have to cut back in an emergency in one or two areas, there is still income coming in from other sources.

See Also: Emergency Fund and Non-emergencies

Planning for Your Business in Case of Emergency--Part One, Natural Disasters

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